Tide Waters
by Randilyn
Summary: The collected adventures of Celeste, a dreamy moon-eyed girl from Chickentown who goes to the jetty after Candy's disappearance; and her guide to the Abarat Blaine, a strange and bird-like pirate’s daughter.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Where a certain Miss Celeste Reynolds ventures out to an abandoned jetty.

Life in Chickentown, Minnesota was just about as dreary as a life could get. The tiny town was only on the map for one reason: chickens. It was all people ever talked about and all they ever did. Except for Celeste, whose only hope in life was to get as far away from Chickentown as was humanly possible. She was in her last class of the day, History, and Mrs. Schwartz was detailing the requirements for their final project. "Pick ten interesting things about Chickentown…." She was saying, Celeste thought that would be near impossible.

The only interesting thing to happen to Chickentown, as far as she was concerned, was the disappearance of Candy Quackenbush. It had been a year and still no sign of her, not one trail to follow, according to the town police. No one knew what happened to her. She had just walked off and never come back. People had sworn they smelled the sea on the air that day and Celeste had thought of the ocean, which she had never seen for herself. For her assignment, she decided, she would write about Henry Murkitt; a man who had loved the sea. The bell rang for the end of the school day and Celeste headed towards the far end of town.

Celeste went, as she often did, out to the edge of town to watch the waves of grass and imagine she was near the ocean. She walked out past the last house in Chickentown with a spring in her step. If you tried really hard the swish of dry grass in the wind became the dull roar and crash of waves. She could imagine the sea, and in her minds eye she could see it sparkling and glinting, throwing the sun's refection back into the sky. The grass was dry and brown as ever, and she waded through it, holding her arms out and brushing the tips of the blades with her fingers. She had walked like this, just happy to be away from the smell and sight of Chickentown, many times. She wandered past the hollowed out skeleton of what she liked to imagine was a lighthouse, however unlikely. The stair that led up to the top was too collapsed to climb. The jetty, an old and rather burnt looking structure, sat out in front of her now. It reached out away from her and its spidery wooden supports, broken and rotting, looked crazy and spindly in the afternoon light.

She climbed up a set of rickety old steps to what had become her favorite place to daydream about the sea. There, standing on the jetty she could see miles and miles of golden waving grasses. A slight breeze ruffled her silvery blond hair. She lay down on the dry, warm planks of the jetty and closed her eyes. She imagined a sea breeze, and the smell it would bring to her. Celeste was just drifting into a light sleep when a spray of cold water and air hit the side of her face.

She opened her eyes to an impossible sight. The rush and swell of a vast and endless sea had flooded the world around the jetty. The grass was gone, already swallowed in the tumult. The water continued to come out of nowhere, and fast. The swirl of it made the aging supports of the jetty give and groan under her. Celeste was at once amazed and frightened. She began to worry that she was stranded there, on the jetty, as the water continued to rise. And rise it did, until the jetty itself was becoming immersed in the rushing flood. The world looked nothing like it had just moments ago and a feeling of magic had mixed into the air.

Celeste looked down at her feet, now covered in at least an inch of water, and made a snap decision. When the tide went back out, she would go with it. No more Chickentown. No. Wherever these mysterious waters would take her, she would go. She breathed in the salt sea air and smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Where the tide of the Mistress Izabella finds its way back to the Abarat.

Celeste leaned back against the wooden planks of the little boat that she had managed to clamber aboard. The floodwaters were receding from Chickentown, and she was now bound to go wherever they were. The swaying and churning of the tide as it left the jetty turned Celeste's stomach, and she scrambled for the side of the boat to empty it. As she got her bearings back, at least some of them, she looked towards the horizon in search of land. However there was none to be seen past the waves and the bow of the small boat as it went along rollicking in the sea. Celeste was going to let the waters take her, and her tiny boat, wherever they wished. And with that, she lay down in the bottom of the boat and began to drift off into thought, staring at the twilight sky.

It was so odd seeing stars that fit no description that she and ever known, that this ocean, for that was undoubtedly what it was, with its salty tang and sea birds and alien fish, could come out of nowhere to swallow Chickentown. Why then, was she not unsettled? How could she possibly be managing to drift off into a doze? Well, regardless or not to the strangeness around her, Celeste was soon asleep, lulled by the motion of the alien sea and the cry of night things she had no name for.

When Celeste awoke she was sure it had been hours, but the sky had not gotten a bit darker. She sat up in the boat and looked around at the gently rolling waves, and then up to the horizon. To her great relief there was an island not far from her place in the wide ocean, and she could see the shadows of more land behind it. The sky in front of her seemed to be a dozen different shades of blue, which she thought a little odd. But the sea birds had grown in number and they flitted and swayed in the air around the boat, some diving into the dark water below. She sat and watched them, distracted by their beauty, until something entirely more frightening caught her eye. In the water, some great green being was surfacing towards her boat, one big eye focused right on her.

She gasped and drew back, the little boat rocking sharply as it was nudged by the thing in the water, as if it was trying to spill a meal into the sea. She felt vaguely insulted by the song and laughter coming from the island she approached as the green fish thing continued to rub against the hull, like a scaly green cat. She clung desperately to the side wishing there was an oar or something to bat the thing away with, thinking that if she fought back it would grow discouraged.

And just as she was getting well and truly terrified that her tiny boat might never reach the shore, a larger boat came out of nowhere, the wake from its prow nearly swamping her tiny dinghy. It was not quite a ship, the hull colored in a shocking red paint, being driven by large billowing sails. A rope ladder was thrown down to her, and even though she could not see the occupants of the other vessel she grabbed at the ladder and began to climb it. When she was half way up a large splash of water and resounding crack chased her to the railing. She was pulled aboard by a girl with violently red hair who proceeded to chide her, "What in the name of the Princess Breath were you doing in that bare bottomed piece of mantizac bait?"


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3: Where the circus never leaves, and women have feathers for hair.

Celeste soon learned that by 'bare bottomed' this strange woman had meant unpainted. It seemed that all the water craft, from simple rafts to the most elaborate of ships, had their hulls painted red in order to prevent attacks from the large and hungry mantizac fish. Celeste thought there was probably an awful lot she had left to learn about this new place. Her savior was working hard to maneuver the small ship into the harbor, narrowly avoiding collisions with the hundred other red-hulled craft attempting to make it to the shore. Celeste stood silently at the rail of the ship, staring out at the island they were docking at.

Just beyond the beach were tents and brightly colored stands, oddly dressed people, and a riot of joyful noise. Merchants stood at small kiosks hawking their wares; clothes of all conceivable shape and size, animals and insects Celeste couldn't identify, and food –lots of food. Large tents stood haphazardly squished together, all competing for the attention of the crowds. The sound of hundreds of different musicians playing instruments shed never heard rang out across the water to her waiting ears. All this she took in before they even left the ship.

The red-haired lady was now busy anchoring the ship to the dock, and turned to look up at Celeste with a broad smile on her face.

"Well, little wisp, what do you think of my Beyonder? She's a lovely little ship isn't she?" beamed the woman.

Celeste nodded quietly.

"Now, don't be shy with me! We're gonna be friends! Tell me your name." another grin.

"….Celeste," she whispered and then said, "My name is Celeste." a little louder.

"Well then, little wisp, my name is Blaine."

There was a short pause while Blaine tugged at the ropes holding the ship, and Celeste actually had a chance to look at the woman who had saved her. Blaine was tall, and thin. Her crazy, curly red hair was brighter a shade than any natural red she had seen before and it was decorated with beads and pendants. Not to mention the myriad necklaces, bangles and bracelets and silver and gold earrings she wore. Blaine was fairly covered in shining, glimmering glass and metal. And now that Celeste was looking, it seemed the girl also had feathers of gold, scarlet and midnight purple in her flaming red mane. But the single oddest feature of her was her eyes. Blaine's eyes were black as jet, and tilted in such a way as to resemble a bird; she even tilted her face to look at you.

Celeste got up the nerve to ask her, "Where are we?"

"This is the island Babilonium, how could you not know that?"

"I'm not from around here." she shrugged.

"Where are you from? I'm Hobarookian."

"I'm from Minnesota." Celeste said uncertainly.

"Minnesota? Never heard of it, what island is it on?"

"It's in America…" she told her, and Blaine fixed her with a sideways stare.

"I've heard of that place. It's in the Hereafter, isn't it?"

"I'm…not sure what you mean." Celeste was beginning to wonder just how far from home she was.

"You are in the Abarat. On occasion the Izabella brings people from the Hereafter in with her tide, but I've never met one of you myself! It's a pleasure." Blaine reached out and took Celeste's hand in hers, by way of a handshake and smiled; as if this cleared the whole thing up.

~*~

Celeste and Blaine made their way down the plank to the dock. Once in the throng of people, Celeste noticed that not all of them seemed to be human. The red-haired woman was normal enough, but some of the occupants, or visitors to this island were just plain odd. There were some with skin abnormally blue or green, or even opalescent. There were men so tall she could barely make out their faces, and women who had scales and sometimes even fins. One 'person' she noticed had horns, and another, dark red fur covering her body instead of clothes. And to top all of that, a man with legs like a toad's had come half-hoping through the crowd, his eyes the same color as his grey-green warty skin.

The lines between reality and fantasy seemed of no consequence in this place. Celeste found herself wondering if this was some elaborate celebration, if all the fantastical beasts and people she had seen were only the work of clever costumes. But something told her that whatever the rules of reality were before she had been carried here on the tide of a rogue sea -which had somehow shown up in the middle of a Minnesota prairie- those rules did not hold any power over this place. Celeste was immediately enamored of this dreamy, celebratory land and its array of oddities.

Blaine reached back and grabbed her hand, leading her deeper into the commotion and crush of happy people headed for a small shabby tent. She was pulled out of the crowd again at the entrance and followed her guide to a row of rather dirty looking benches. They had missed the first half of what turned out to be a play about a young girl and an orange boy and their escape from the house of a man with several hats piled high on his head. The story was a favorite of the people gathered in the tent and they laughed and clapped loudly for the actors as the curtains closed.

Celeste followed Blaine towards the side of the stage, where she was asked to stay "Right here, and don't move for anything". A few seconds later a commotion broke out in the crowd as a richly dressed woman with hair the color of ripe plums began to yell. Celeste strained to see what was going on, but before she had a chance to figure out what had happened, she was pulled roughly backward through a flap in the tent. A hand stifled her yelp of surprise and a familiar voice chimed "Off we go!"

Confused and slightly disoriented Celeste looked up to see the large and peculiarly black eyes of the red-haired woman starting into hers, alight with mischief and triumph. Then she grabbed Celeste by the hand and headed off in the direction of the harbor; they came out of the crowd at the shore.

"Now that was worth it!" Blaine said proudly as the reached into her trouser bottoms and pulled out a string of gigantic black pearls.

"Oh." Celeste was surprised to find she hadn't realized what all that quick walking was about before….

"Of course, I'm not going to keep them."

"Are you going to sell them then?" Celeste asked casually as she nudged shells from the sand with her toes.

"Nope." And with that, a heavy string of pearls were slipped over Celeste's head. "I'm going to give them too you. They look better with your hair."

Celeste smiled up at Blaine "Thanks, they are beautiful."

"Glad you think so. Now let go back and get you some proper clothing to match." Blaine said cheerfully. Luckily, Celeste still had some money in her pants pocket.

Celeste and Blaine went back into the crowd and tents at the other end of the beach. She bought, on Blaine's recommendation, a copy of _Klepp's Almenak_. It was a very informative book, and told her all about the Abarat's 25 islands. She was intrigued by the way it was said that there was an island for every hour of the day, she wasn't convinced if the almenak meant it literally or not. It had been very inexpensive, and Celeste had had to buy a coin purse as well because she collected so much change. Apparently, money from the "Hereafter" was worth a lot in the Abarat.

Since she suddenly had so much money, she bought herself a new outfit, after much frustration from Blaine –who wanted to buy the clothes for her. Before leaving the clothing stand, Celeste examined herself in the mirror. Her small frame was now swathed in twilight shades of blue and purple, a nice shirt with half-sleeves, and a skirt that nearly brushed the ground when she walked. The colors made her look even more pale than usual, her skin was almost luminescent and her platinum blond hair looked more like silver. She looked up at her face and the eyes that looked back at her were large and sad, brilliant blue the color of cornflowers. She smiled at Blaine in the mirror, and then they turned to leave.

Blaine had her heart set on visiting a red tent that was just barely visible over the tops of the tents around the clothing stand. The red tent turned out to be a jewelry sellers hut. Celeste followed Blaine to the back of the tent where she eyed strands of beautiful, vibrant glass beads; as if she didn't have enough jewelry as it was.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that Blaine resembled a bird with her dark black eyes tilted as they were in her face, her long thin limbs, and the hint of iridescence in her skin. Celeste was suddenly reminded of something she had read in _Klepp's Almenak _about the island of Hobarookus, where Blaine was from. The kalukwa birds on the island sometimes laid eggs that hatched human children. This then, must be where Blaine had gotten her eyes, and the feathers in her hair. Celeste smiled and thought she would ask Blaine about her mother when they were back on the Beyonder.

~*~

The Beyonder was an odd craft. At first glance it looked like a ship right out of her history books at home, with linen sails, a giant wheel with spokes, and portholes in the sides. All except for the small house that took up all of the deck space aft of the main mast. Half of the house was built below the deck and half above. Its roof was tiled in wood shingles that almost reached the deck, and there were large glass windows on either side of the door. Celeste desperately wanted to see inside the small cabin, but Blaine insisted it was just like any other pirate's ship. She didn't stop talking long enough to let Celeste explain that she'd never seen a ship in person before this.

Blaine had in fact seen fit to buy several new strands of glass beads, and brought Celeste into the cabin-house to put her new baubles away. This was where she lived when she was away from home on Hobarookus. The chest that held most of Blaine's expansive collection of jewelry was at the back of the open cabin where one large multi-paned glass window looked out at the sea behind the ship. The view was impressive to say the least.

Dozens of red-hulled ships were anchored in the harbor, bobbing in the slow waves that came to the shore of Babilonium. Other islands were also visible, although Celeste couldn't name them, and the sky was slowly fading from one shade of blue to the next vertically along the horizon. One section of the sky held stars as bright as points of sunlight, twinkling and winking in the firmament.

Blaine was trying to show Celeste where she could sleep the night, but Celeste was deep in day-dream about the foreign stars of the Abarat. Blaine called her name, bringing her back to the cabin-house. Celeste gave Blaine a sheepish smile and apologized. The hammock hanging in the corner by the door was very comfy, and Celeste could bed there if she liked. In another corner was Blaine's 'bed'. A mattress on the ground with blankets piled on it and big plush pillows. The ceiling in that corner was hung with various shiny bits of glass and metal. Mirrors, sheer material and netting collecting even more jewelry and baubles hung from the walls. If Celeste had ever had any doubt as to Blaine's parentage it was now gone. That was a nest if she had ever seen one.


End file.
